Esther Yoo VIOLIN

Esther Yoo first came to international attention in 2010 when, aged 16, she became the youngest prize winner of the 10th International Sibelius Violin Competition. In 2012 she was one of the youngest ever prize winners of the Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition.

This season, Esther gives her London concerto debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Lorin Maazel – having previously joined the orchestra and conductor for their 2012 tour to China and Korea. She will also record the violin concertos by Glazunov and Sibelius with the Philharmonia and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Born in the United States, Esther began playing the violin at the age of 4 and has been living in Belgium since she was 6 years old. Since making her concerto debut aged 8, she has performed with many international orchestras, including the Philharmonia, Finnish Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic and Seoul Philharmonic orchestras. Recent and upcoming concerto performances include return engagements with the Czech Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and the Sinfonia Varsovia, as well as debuts with the Warsaw Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, Arnhem Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Kansai Philharmonic, Tenerife Symphony and Queensland Symphony orchestras, the Orchestre National de Belgique and Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. She has also toured with the Netherlands National Student Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland.

Festival appearances include concerts at Seoul International Music Festival (featuring the Bach Double Violin Concerto with Maxim Vengerov), the Kamermuziek Houtland Festival (Belgium) and as part of Rising Stars series at the Frankische Music Festival (Germany) and the Arpeggione Music Festival (Austria). During Summer 2013, she performed at the Festival du Château de Chambord in France and in the Dvořák Prague Festival Debut Series. She has also given recitals at the Flâneries Musicales de Reims (France) and on tour throughout Belgium, The Netherlands and Qatar.

Esther is currently a student of Ana Chumachenco in the Excellence Bachelor Programme at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich and of Augustin Dumay in the Artist Diploma Programme at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels. She plays the 1704 “Prince Obolensky” Stradivarius, generously lent to her by a private collector.